AGAINST the wild-swinging Ramel Antaran, the Bukidnon native boxer Melvin Jerusalem kept his cool and composure en route to hammering out a unanimous decision win on Saturdays’ Sanman Bubble VIII in General Santos City.

The victory thus sustained Jerusalem’s streak to seven and bolstered his chances for the big time ahead.

“Maybe, I’ll be defending the Orient Pacific Boxing Federation title in Japan o basin ma grasyahan maka challenge na pud usab sa world title anytime this year,” the 27-year-old Manolo Fortich native Jerusalem told Gold Star Daily.

The veteran brawler Antaran tried his best to upstage the former world title contender Jerusalem, relying on his powerful overhand right that consistently missed its target.

The shorter Jerusalem, who proved to be the busiest puncher, withstood their eight-round duel for the 195-pound class, serving as the former’s tune-up fight while waiting for the right time to come his way.

In 2017, Jerusalem failed to wrest the WBC minimumweight crown of Thailander Wenhang Menayothin, followed by another debacle at the hands of fellow Filipino joey Canoy who’s now one of his sparring mates.

But since finding Zip Sanman Promotion as his new outfit, the former protegee of ALA Boxing Gym Jerusalem piled up victories one after the other, including his conquest of Toto Landero in a July 2021 rematch for the OPBF belt in a Cebu ring.

Jerusalem’s string of successful fights has currently ranked him as No.1 in the WBO minimumweight division.

He’s also rated No.2 contender in the World Boxing Council (WBC), No. 3 in the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and No. 6 in the World Boxing Association (WBA).

Here are the complete results of Sanman Bubble VIII in GenSan:

Main Event
10rds Flyweight
Esneth Domingo UD10 Jessie Espinas
Scored (96-94)x3

Co-main events
10rds Super Flyweight
KJ Cataraja TKO3 Romshane Sarguilla

8rds Minimumweight
Melvin Jerusalem UD8 Ramel Antaran

Undercards
10rds Super Lightweight
Jhunrick Carcedo TKO3 Ryan Sermona

8rds Featherweights
Michael Casama TKO5 Jaime Barcelona

8rds Lightweights
Criztian Pitt Laurent TKO2 Vicente Casido

6rds Super Bantamweight
Kenny Demecillo stops Eric Pulgo in the 6th round

4rds Bantamweight
Alex Santisima UD4 Nathaniel Juan

4rds Super flyweight
Joshua Belicina TKO3 Jojo Lastimosa